Friday, August 10, 2007

Top 10 richest countries in the Caribbean

I came across an article on Caribbean Net News about the top 10 richest countries in the Caribbean, and I went across to check out Canadian website Aneki.com, who compiled the rankings.

The rankings are based on each country's Gross Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. GDP is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period, and is usually calculated on an annual basis.

It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports less imports that occur within a defined territory.

The comment about Bermuda is worth some thought. I think by looking at the countries on this list that it portrays the richest independent countries in the Caribbean. Bermuda's citizens are undoubtably very wealthy but are not independent. The same applies for the Cayman Islands. On another note, I am from Trinidad. There are certainly more wealthy people in Trinidad, and many times over that in Bermuda. But there are also some very poor people. All the figure represents in an average of the rich and the poor as well as the resources being exploited.

I highly doubt that people in Trinidad have a higher income than people in Bermuda. Even though Bermuda is not in the Caribbean it ranks third above other countries GDP. So obviously Bermuda tops Trinidad and other Caribbean country.

"Bermuda is not part of the Caribbean" ok then, so neither is the Bahamas. For those who haven't been here, geographically, no Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, however, culturally, politically,and ethnicity, Bermuda is very much Caribbean.

i know the bahamas has always been richer than alot of the carribbean country, to tell the true i though one 1 TT dollar is like 8 or less to a u. s dollar, on the other the bahamain dollar is 1 usd 2 1 and the bahamas ppl there get paid a really good salary

Being born in the caribbean, i see a huge difference between these islands. first of all, Bermuda is very rich. Go there and check your facts. It is a British overseas territory, so not independent but incredibly profitable place. Cayman Islands to my knowledge is a major international financial centre so is the richest island. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Cayman Islands GDP per capita is the 12th highest in the world. although, it is also a British Overseas Territory like Bermuda. I agree Jamaica should not be part of the list... No comments!!! St Lucia is not too high up, just came back from there and it's so underdeveloped but extremely beautiful. I love Barbados...beautiful, developed, educated and rich. The best for a mix of authentic culture and progressive development. Trinidad's main export is petroleum, and only 5% of it accounts for employment. I don't see it at the top, for several reasons. It cannot progress that much because of political instability. Never close to being envied by others, even if Trinis are nice people.

Fist of all cayman islands is no where close 2 bermuda.., trinidad, is no where close to bermuda, lol, have u seen trinidad? An about st.lucia, is the no.1 one destination las time i checked, u prolly visit, up in the mountains, lol, u wana c undevelop? Visit grenada, barbados is also gorgous..

Bermuda has a high GDP but it is not a caribbean island bec it is not located in the latitude and longitude of what is called the c'bbean. So geographically it is not C'bbean. Also Trinidad does not have political instability! Where did that person get that fromv

I DONT THINK JAMAICA SHOULD BE THAT LOW ON THE LIST AS IM JAMAICAN AND KNOWS HOW WEALTHY JAMAICANS ARE ON A WHOLE... ST KITTS IS NOT AS WEALTHY AS JAMAICA IT THEY ARE RANKED HIGH UP... BASED ON MY EXPERIENCES AND VISITING ALL THESE ISLANDS I KNOW... FROM EXPERIENCE THAT SOME OF THESE RANKS DONT RING TRUE..

It is not about whose's country has better geographical landscape or how politically stable the island is. it's just the island's national income/revenue is calculated from all sectors in the economy and who has the highest GDP. And yes Bermuda may not be a part of the caribbean geographically, it is an associate member CARICOM and can be counted.

Trinidad didnt buy out air jamaica they least it for 50 million US dollars.The jamaican government still has 16.25 percent shares in air jamaica and can terminate the least at any time without any penalties or notice...check ur facts

Trinidad did not least anything (AIR JAMAICA)....and jamaica has little or no say nor can they terminate anything and yes you are right Jamaica does have a 16%share in the airline but this was a move by the T&T government to pacify the Jamaican people...Trinidad owns AIR JAMAICA there's no such thing as leasting an airline,Jamaica had no choice but to get rid of the airline which was part of the IMF terms and conditions...you get your facts straight!!!!!!!

bermuda can't be on the list because they aren't consider to be part of the caribbean neither do they consider themselves to be part of it.Jamaica is a very poor country and statistics has proven that.Nice blog though

I think this list includes only the GDP from independent countries.But there appears to be some confusion here. Someone pointed out what the GDP of a country represents, yt the figures I see are quoted as PER CAPITA INCOME.

why are you people so cheap in mind??? we are all caribbean people so stop acting like your contry better than any other, i am rom trinidad and i love jamaica , i love antigua and i loveeeeeeeeeeeeeee the rest of the islands...

ahhhhh.....this was interesting...i'm trinidaian and trinidad and tobago is a rich country.....apart from buying the airlines....we have the oil and tourism(well tourism for tobago cause amyone who has been to the country wud say trnindad is industrial, tobago is tourism nice beaches and everything)....and all though ppl say we r going to run out of oil someday i think the oil will stick aroung for a while....but mainly we don't have to be rich as in money we are rich in culture and that's what makes trinidad and tobago wealthy

people on here are so so sad,why is there always a competative way in doing things ?let me squash this 1.its cayman islands 2.bermuda is second although they dont belong to caricom 3.BARBADOS(yes im from there)4.trinidad(and i will like to ask trini's this question,why you all in every body business and under curfew and cant fix your planes ?)curse all you want i dont care and actually ummm AIR JAMAICA is a lease to trinidad(you can lease anything that have value) !5 where my jamaicans at ? i love jam rock and trust me they have some huge houses down there,6,antigua and barbuda,7.saint kitts and nevis now i typed this based on my family that lives in these islands and on what i saw you dont need "obama"to tell you this on a piece of paper,its common sense most of the time,its like you say you want to be a doctor you dont need someone too tell you,you have to go to medical school,but all in all i love the caribbean

Statistics can be viewed subjectively/objectively. If u go 2 da islands u get a much different picture. U must all remember that 9/10 of da respective populations are poor souls (majority). So no need of showing off

im from jamaica ,and jamaica cant be on the list poverty is about en times more than the other countries thats on that list,the only 3 countries that any one can vouch for is trinidad bahamas, and barbadoes, sorry cayman and bermuda are still british overseas territories if you guys understand what that means.

I think the point has been missed. The question was which Caribbean country is the largest? We need to stay with the facts and stop being personal about who is who. We are all Caribbean and black people. Don't stray from the point in question. One Love! Jamaican living in TCI

Bermuda is the THIRD RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. So obviously, unless any of these other countries have a GDP per capita higher than $69,900, Bermuda should be at the top of the list. Bermuda is a member of CARICOM and therefore is a part of the Caribbean- not geographically, but politically.

Saint lucia's ranking rings true and so does the other rankings seen on list...i live in the caribbean and so can vouch for it....as for saint lucia being so underdeveloped...u were probably living in the bush when u were down there

I agree with the above listings and as I live in the caribbean and travel quite a bit I can therefore vouch for the above...as for saint lucian being underdeveloped I agree with the other person u were probably staying in the bush

Have you ever seen the americans bebate about which state is the richest? people you all are embarrassing. we all are (one) Caribbean and heaven forbid, in the event of a natural disaster, none of this bragging rights will matter.

Am am from Trinidad and am not competing against any other country with respect to wealth but am merely saying that Trinidad is a very wealy country. We Hosted the fifth summith of the Americans which was deemed to be a very very expensive event,hundreds of millions of dollars were pumped into this event.apart from that our government assistance grants are alot and if you look at the city port of spain, billions of dollars went into the development of our water front.

Don't you see that people from many of the islands are commenting not only Trinidadians. So howcome it's only Trinidadians who 'up in everybody business'. This discussioon is moot anyway. We should seek to look after eachother in the Caribbean, not tear eachother down.

I'm simply wondering what the outcome of this semi-(and sometimes too)emotional debate about who is better than who in the Caribbean is supposed to be. At the end of the day what's the benefit? People sit up in forums and on blogs and throw low blows and politicians continue to call the shots. Fortunately, in some countries politicians are held accountable and transparency is the order of the day, so those countries continue to benefit and to grow. In others, a stroke of a pen means a richer politician and another hungry child. What's the benefit of running up in here like school children and arguing "we're richer", "we're the envy", "you're underdeveloped", "you're not in the Caribbean, "why are you on the list?"?

Haters gona always hate. At the end of it numbers talk and if it says Trinidad has money well then so be it. why other caribbean countries always hating on us? because of what? when the other caribbean countries are in need of money or something, who always helping them? TRINIDAD AKA the caribbean credit card. we are all fromthe west indies at the end of it. show love not hate.

I live in canada I live among trini, Bajan, Lucian, Grenadian, every Island you name it...we all face it rough.. .canada GDP is about 69,000 and we jamaican, trini. Lucian face it hard but would still consider canada number 1 for having GDP. Reality is we should help each other and live as one. My wife says she is rich but doesn't have a job. rich in blessings.

Check the facts richest and GDP is about the government. The government is poor it's the cooperation that has the money...lots of it.....jamaican business man Michael lee chin, Gordon butch Stewart and bob marley are billionaire the only billionaire in the Caribbean they account for 90 per cent of all the money in the caribbean...not to mention all the entertainers that are multi millionaires that is not considered in this government propaganda

The truth is Trinidad and Tobago, is the riches country in the Caribbean, if its based on our exports of natural recourses Like Crude Oil and Natural gas. Because these commodities are unique to Trinidad in the Caribbean, along with tar. I live in America and it considered the riches country in the world, yet they to have poor very poor people.

just came across these comments and i think most of you are like little children.These islands are in so much danger and you don't even know it.There is a volcanic island out in the atlantic that has half of it which is a mountain about ready to fall into the ocean: and when it does there will be a wave twice the size of the one that hit japan. So all your little flat island and your so call developed economies could be wiped out.Sad to say most of these populations could be lost.